I don't want to be the bad guy anymore
by soultaker78
Summary: Heather receives a gift from an unknown source and decides to attempt being a better person. But first, she has to convince her haters that she's actually human. While on this goal, she forms an unlikely friendship with the last person she expected.
1. Chapter 1

Heather was not in good mood. Despite actually winning TDWT, all she had gotten for her efforts was almost being smothered in molten rock. _Could be worse, _Heather thought to herself. _I could be like Alejandro and be in the hospital for having third degree burns over 98% of my body._ That thought did cheer her up a bit, but it wasn't enough.

Heather was currently sulking in a hotel room. After fleeing for their lives from an erupting volcano and swimming into the ocean, Chris had picked the former contestants up in a boat took them to the nearby island where the new Playa De Losers was. Those in need of medical attention were taken to a hospital, everyone else was taken to a hotel and assigned rooms.

Heather knew that since she was being given a free room in a tropical paradise, she should make the most of it and treat herself to an impromptu vacation but she was having trouble finding the drive to go out because she was a little depressed about not getting the million dollars. Besides that, she did not want to deal with any of the former contestants.

She was interrupted by a knock on the door. Despite having a feeling that she would regret it, she went to open the door. She opened the door and saw that no one was there. She turned to look down the hallway and still didn't see anyone.

"Huh," she said then closed the door and went back into her room. Heather decided to look down and see if the person who knocked had slipped anything under the door. This turned out to be a good idea, because she saw what looked like a ticket. She picked it up and saw that it was for a movie called 'Megamind'.

Her first thought was that this was a trap. But, she didn't have anything better to do so she decided to risk it. The ticket was for 10:30 p.m. and it was currently 10 o'clock right now, so that should leave enough time.

Heather went to the lobby and asked for directions to the theater. She got there with plenty of time to spare and took a seat. _If there were a trap, it probably would have been sprung by now, _Heather thought. Heather could tell from a poster outside that this was one of those CGI animated movies aimed for kids. She decided to not let that bother and just sit back and enjoy the show.

Some time later, the movie had ended and Heather exited the theater. She thought it had been a very entertaining movie, but since she was over the age of ten she had noticed all of subtleties the filmmakers had used to get their moral across. That moral was how a person can rise above the circumstances of their life and be the kind of person they want to be.

_Whoever gave me the ticket, _Heather began thinking, _must have seen the movie first and thought it might inspire me to change. But who? _Heather's first thought was that it could be Cody since he tried to convince her that she was a good person (she was sure he meant just in relation to Alejandro). Her second thought was that it might be Harold on account of how he helped her in the final challenge of TDWT and reached out to her during the hunt for the million dollars following season 1. Plus, 'Megamind' seemed him like the kind of movie he would see. One last possibility occurred to her that it could be DJ since he didn't seem to completely despise her and was probably naïve enough to think this gesture might have an effect.

But asking any of them if they gave her the ticket would be awkward, mostly because if the first person she asked wasn't her anonyomous beneficiary, that would mean admitting that she just saw a movie aimed for a much younger demographic.

Heather decided to forget about that for now: she had bigger things to worry about. The movie had made her consider what she had gotten from her life of amoral selfishness. She was near-universally despised, lost the position of influence she once held in her school and did not have a million dollars to show for it (though that last one could be blamed on Ezekiel). What did she really have to lose from at least trying to change?

_Not a damn thing, _Heather thought in regards to that question. Heather began walking back to the hotel. As she continued walking, she thought of the song 'The Infection' by Disturbed (a group Heather would never admit to liking).

**In the back of my mind I can,**

**Barely even remember when**

**There was nothing left to hide**

Heather had trouble remembering when she used to not be such a bitch. She did know that back then, she didn't have to worry about keeping things to herself all the time.

**I was forced to walk alone**

**Living in an empty home**

She felt so alone when she lost her influence. She had never been very close to her family, so there was no help there.

**All I wanted was to hide**

**And try to numb this ache inside**

**And I'm still afraid of the light**

**And a thousand voices share their laughter at my demise**

She was somewhat depressed after that. She dealt with people at her school who took it upon themselves to punish her for her transgressions and others over the internet calling her the embodiment of all evil.

**Now if I am to survive**

**The infection must die**

**Murder the beast that has been eating me alive**

**The infection must die**

**Give me release from this demon of mine (demon of mine)**

**The infection must DIE!**

Heather now felt that she needed to change her life. Otherwise, people would keep hating her guts until the end of time and make her pay for her crimes over and over again. Plus, if she didn't change her ways, there was a chance her brand of opportunistic pettiness might turn into complete malevolence of the level of Chris or Alejandro. Considering the intense hatred she had for both of them, she was disgusted with the idea of becoming more like them.

Heather made it back to her room. She changed out of her clothes and decided to go to bed. She knew it would be a while before she fell asleep because she started thinking of ways to take the first steps on this new path of hers.

….

The next day, Heather did a little shopping then went to the nearby hospital where some of the former contestants were. She was carrying a small box with her that she was going to give to one of them. But first, she was going to see a certain evil Latino.

She got to Alejandro's room. When Chris checked him into the hospital, the doctors diagnosed him with having third degree burns over 98% of his body. He had just gotten skin grafts for all that damaged tissue (Heather didn't know it, but the surgeons had pulled an all-nighter for Al). He was wrapped up in plaster like a mummy, including his mouth.

_Perfect, _Heather thought. She was planning to have a conversation with Alejandro: specifically, the kind of conversation where she did all the talking while he stayed as quite as a mime with damaged vocal cords.

"Hi Al," Heather said with a fake smile. "There are a few things I want to get off my chest. First off, you are an evil bastard. I mean, taking advantage of Bridgette's borderline nymphomania, coaxing Leshawna into going ape shit on me, and of course there's what you did to DJ."

"You used his curse phobia to build up his confidence then tore it down just for the hell of it," Heather continued. "What possible reason did you have to do that? Because you thought the teams wouldn't disband? DJ is the nicest person I've ever met, and you put him through that because you thought Chris could be taken at his word. You should be ashamed of yourself. Not for the obvious reasons, I mean: for being cruel in such an unbelievably idiotic way."

Heather took a deep breath before she continued. "I know I'm not a good person. I've done lots of terrible things: I've lied, cheated, and ruined the lives of others to make my own more convenient. And as that person, I want to say that you are one sick f#^k." Heather then spit on the plaster around Alejandro's face.

"One last thing Al," Heather said. "Thank you. If I hadn't met you, there's a chance I might have become you."

Heather turned to walk out of Alejandro's hospital room and saw a certain muscle-bound female standing in the doorway.

….

Author's note: to be clear, I will give a clear explanation for where the ticket came from. It just won't be until the very end of the story, so keep that in mind. Also, I don't own either the movie 'Megamind' or the band Disturbed. I only used some of the lyrics from 'the infection', not the whole song.

Also, if you are reading this story and are hoping to see Heather fail on this path to prove that she is still evil even when trying not to be, stop reading because you are going to be very disappointed.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hi Eva," Heather said with a tint of shock. "How much of that did you hear?"

"I came in around the part where you were calling him out for what he did to DJ," Eva said. "I came here to tell Alejandro what a soulless, womanizing, piece of shit he is but it looks like you beat me to it."

"Feel free to give him a piece of your mind," Heather said. "I have someone else to visit here." Heather left Alejandro's room walked to another room. Since Eva had become intrigued by Heather's little chat with Alejandro, Eva decided to follow her. She knocked on the door and let herself in.

"Hi Sierra," Heather said as she walked up to her. Sierra was in bed as well, but she was in better shape that Alejandro.

"Hi Heather," Sierra said awkwardly. Of all the former contestants, Heather was one of the ones she least expected to visit her.

"I have a present for you," Heather said as she gave Sierra the box she was holding. Sierra opened it and found that it was a short wig that was bright purple. "That was the closest I could find to the shade of purple you dyed your hair."

"Thanks Heather," Sierra said sincerely as she put the wig on.

"No, thank you Sierra," Heather said. "When you apologized to me [1] for almost killing me with an oversized power tool in Drumheller, it meant a lot to me. You didn't ignore the issue, say I deserved to nearly get killed over false pretenses or bragged about it on international television. So thanks for not doing any of that."

"No problem Heather," Sierra said.

Heather was kind of stretching the truth at the moment: when Sierra had apologized, it meant very little to Heather (she wasn't in much of a forgiving mood after almost being drilled to death), but after finding out about how Leshawna had conducted herself about her actions in Germany, Heather had been grateful that Sierra hadn't done something similar.

The two of them talked for a while. Sierra's favorite topic had been inquiring about when Cody was planning to visit her next. Despite having to tell her three times that she did not know anything about Cody's plans, Heather had enjoyed the civil conversation.

Heather said goodbye to Sierra and left the room. She saw Eva standing by the door and figured that the muscle girl had overheard her conversation with the uber-fan.

"Is there any reason you're stalking me?" Heather asked.

"I have a better question," Eva countered. "Who are you and why didn't you replace Heather sooner?"

"I am Heather, you muscle head," Heather replied. "Or rather, I'm the new Heather. What do you say we go outside and I explain this whole thing?"

"Sounds good," Eva answered. "But there is one other person in the hospital. Don't you want to see him too?"

"You mean Ezekiel," Heather said nervously. "I don't think that's such a good idea. I'm afraid if I do visit him, I'll give into temptation and smother him with a pillow to put him out of my misery." A devious smile come across Heather's face as that thought crossed her mind. "On second thought, let's go see the prairie boy [2]."

"Let's not and say we did," Eva said as she grabbed Heather's arm and motioned for them to go outside. Eva had no great love for Ezekiel, but she had decided that losing his mind and getting a lava bath was punishment enough for his sexist remarks in season 1. The two of them exited the hospital and sat down on a nearby bench.

"Before I get to your questions," Heather said, "I want to say that I'm sorry about that whole thing with your MP3 player in season 1. Also, I have something for you." Heather reached into her pocket and pulled out some dollar bills. Heather gave Eva a $10 bill. "I got my parents to wire me some money this morning, so I can pay you now."

(Begin flashback)

_The former contestants had just escaped the volcanic eruption and Chris had picked them up in a boat. Chris had gathered them all together and was going to address them. _

"_That was nuts, wasn't it," Chris said jovially. The soggy teens were not amused by the sadist's levity. "Now for new business. I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that there will be a season 4."_

_This caused moans of dissatisfaction (along with some cursing) from the former contestants. _

"_The good news is that none of you will be involved," Chris finished. This got cries of jubilation from the teens. The vocal celebration was cut short as Chris blew and air horn to silence them and once again draw the attention to himself. _

"_I'm not done yet," he said with a scowl. "The reason you're not coming back is because your actions this season have confused the viewers. Gwen," he said as he pointed at the goth girl, "you're supposed to be the spunky girl next door with weird fashion sense, not a boyfriend stealing harlot." This got a chuckle of approval from Courtney._

"_Leshawna," Chris continued as he pointed at her. "You seemed to have forgotten that Eva is the one who goes violently ape shit at the drop of a hat, not you. Heather," he pointed to the Asian girl, "you're supposed to be the scheming bitch everyone loves to hate. How dare you occasionally act human this season!"_

Big mistake, asshole, _Heather thought to herself. She turned her head around and saw Eva. _You like seeing me make a total bitch out myself? Then let's see how you like this.

_She approached Eva and whispered in her ear, "I don't have it on me right now, but I will pay you $10 to get Chris to shut up in the most violent way you see fit."_

"_Deal," Eva answered. _

"_And Duncan," Chris said as he pointed at the delinquent. "Your stunt with Gwen turned away a good chunk of the viewers. Do you have any idea how much money….." he was interrupted by Eva walking right up to him. He briefly wondered what she wanted but his curiosity was cut by her punching him in head, causing him to fall to the floor like a sack of potatoes._

_Heather started clapping at this sight. A few more people started clapping as well and soon everyone was giving Eva a round of applause. _

(End flashback)

"The joke's on you," Eva said as she put the $10 bill in her pocket. "I'd have done it for free if you'd asked nicely enough."

"By the way, has Chris pressed charges against you yet?" Heather asked.

"He did, bet he didn't get anywhere. It's weird," Eva began with a devious smile as she leaned back, "there were cameras on the boat, but there wasn't any footage in them when Chris looked for it after he regained consciousness. And even though I punched him in front of about two dozen people, nobody actually saw it happen."

Heather chuckled evilly at the thought of everyone hating Chris so universally that they pulled together to cover for Eva (who wasn't exactly well liked herself).

"Anyway, back to the matter at hand," Heather said. "You're wondering why I'm acting so differently than usual. It's kind of complicated, but here's the short version," Heather took a deep breath. "I don't want to be the bad guy anymore. I don't even know why I'm telling you this: you're not going to believe me."

"I do believe you Heather," Eva said.

Heather raised her eyebrow in curiosity. She was well aware of her untrustworthy reputation and was surprised to see someone take her at her word like that. "Why?" Heather asked.

"Because between girls becoming swooning morons around Alejandro," Eva began, "Sierra being so busy fawning over Cody that she forgot she was in the running for a million dollars, and Gwen and Courtney going from being possible friends to turning on each other like rabid pit bulls over a guy, it almost looked like it had become trendy for girls to ignore the last several decades of feminism [3]. As for you though, even if you had fallen for Alejandro, at least you wanted to show him that you deserved to be treated as an equal. Plus, you managed to finally take that son of a bitch down."

"What I'm getting at," Eva continued, "is that you have earned my begrudging respect, so I am giving you the benefit of the doubt. For now, anyway."

_All right, _Heather thought. Considering how her conversation with Sierra went and getting the benefit of the doubt from Eva of all people, taking her life in a new direction was looking more and more doable.

"You know Eva," Heather said as she leaned back, "we're not so different, you and I."

"How do you figure that?" Eva asked.

"We both deal with people who have very strong opinions about us," Heather began. "They think you're a mindless brute and I'm a soulless bitch. And judging by how people have acted on these opinions, they're not going to change them easily."

"Yeah," Eva said as she thought it over and agreed with Heather.

"And it's not like these people have never made f#^k-ups of their own," Heather continued. "But despite that, they still think they are undeniably better than us while looking back at their own history through rose-tinted glasses."

"Who gave them the right to judge us, 'cause I sure as shit didn't," Eva said angrily as she stood up. It was then she realized that Heather could possibly be up to something. "I sense there's a point here Heather, so why don't you cut to it?"

"Very well," Heather said. "I have a plan – well at this point it's less of a plan and more of a vague idea in my head – but I have this idea where I call out some people on their… let's call it judgmental hypocrisy. But I could use some muscle."

"Then it's a good thing I've got lots of muscle," Eva said as she flexed both of her arms. "What do you have in mind so far?"

"I'll think you'll like it," Heather said with a devious smile.

…

Author's notes: [1] Sierra did pull Heather aside to talk to her in the Drumheller episode. We didn't see the actual conversation, but I'm taking some artistic license and saying that Sierra did apologize.

[2] Keep in mind that Heather really does want to be a better person, but there's going to be a bit of a learning curve involved. Besides, it'd be unrealistic to have her go from bitch to saint in no time flat.

[3] Fellow fanfic author Joemerl brought this up in one of his Deviant Art journals. If you look at some of the events in TDWT, it's not a stretch to say the season had some pretty anti-feminist undertones.


	3. Chapter 3

Heather was in the studio that was used to film the aftermath specials for the past season. She was overlooking the studio by sitting on one of the rafters. She was currently waiting for some people to join to her. The entrance to the studio (the only working one since she locked up the others) opened and Eva walked through carrying a tied up and gagged Gwen over her shoulders.

Heather took out her cell phone and sent out two text messages to relay Gwen's location and predicament: one to Leshawna (who would come to rescue her friend) and one to Courtney (who would want to capitalize on Gwen's incapacation in gruesome ways).

A few minutes later, Leshawna and Courtney came in through the only entrance (which they had been told to) arguing over their plans for Gwen. The two of them saw Gwen, left on the floor in the center of the studio and went to her. When they approached Gwen, Eva (who had been standing to the side of the door and was not seen by Leshawna and Courtney) went to the door and closed it. Leshawna untied Gwen and Heather decided to let her presence be known.

"I'm so glad you could all make it," Heather said.

"Why am I not surprised to see that you're behind this," Gwen said.

"Sorry about the kidnapping attempt Gwenie," Heather began, "but how else was I going to get all three of you in one spot?"

"But that's not the only thing I'm sorry about," she continued. "I'm sorry about all the bitchy things I've done in the past. Well, most of them anyway. Gwen, I am not sorry about arranging your elimination in season 2: you got what was coming to you as a saboteur. And Courtney, I am not sorry about trying to vote you off in Austrailia."

"You promised me that you were going to help me eliminate Gwen," Courtney said angrily.

"And you promised me that you wouldn't make the team lose on purpose to make that happen [1]," Heather countered. "If anything, I'd say that you owe me an apology for thinking that I'd be stupid and subservient enough to uphold my end of the bargain after you ignored yours."

"Irrelevant," Courtney screamed. "Getting rid of Gwen was all that mattered. The best interests of the team and any promises I made did not matter."

"I think we're getting off topic here," Leshawna said. "Heather, you can take your apologies and shove them up your pale, scrawny ass."

"I was expecting that," Heather said. "Just to be clear, you are turning down my apology, even though Courtney apologized for all the messed up stuff she did in season 2 and that was good enough for you [2]."

"Big difference, Heather," Courtney countered. "I was sincere about my apology."

"Just like I'm sincere about mine," Heather said. "More importantly, the only reason people gave you the benefit of the doubt was because you're not me."

"Damn straight," Leshawna said.

"Because you all sit high atop your pedestals and look down on me like I'm the scum of the earth," Heather continued.

"I don't think I'm going to like where this is going," Gwen said.

"Oh you won't," Heather answered with a devious smile. "Because we are going into the debate portion right now. Simply put, none of you are as better than me as you might think are."

"Let's start with Gwen," Heather began. "I believe we are all aware of her recent f#(k up in the romance department."

"Hey, you kissed another girl's guy too," Gwen pointed out. "At least I actually like Duncan, as opposed to how you only kissed Trent to f^k with me."

"So since you kissed Duncan out of lust whereas I kissed Trent out of wrath means you did nothing wrong?" Heather asked.

"Yes," Gwen said, then had a look of uncertainty on her face. "I mean no." Gwen then held her head in hands in frustration. "I don't know."

"Exactly: you don't know," Heather said. "You have no right to make me out to be a monster with your ill founded sense of moral absolutism. And you know what: your kissing Duncan was worse than my kissing Trent. I never made you think I was your friend before doing it and I didn't try to get Trent all to myself afterwards."

Courtney was laughing at Gwen's expense. "Your turn, Courtney," Heather said. "You are vain, arrogant, self-righteous, extremely foul tempered when provoked and as I've recently proven, duplicitous: not exactly traits you'd expect from someone who is supposedly better than me. Also, you tried to get back at Duncan by hitting on Tyler, who had a girlfriend. How do you think Lindsey would have felt if Tyler had succumbed to temptation you? If your plan had succeeded, you would have been just as evil as you believed Gwen to be and you wouldn't have cared because you got some semblance of revenge."

Courtney stood with her mouth open in shock as she realized Heather was absolutely right. "Oops," she said.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Heather said.

"But wait," Courtney started, "if Tyler had returned my advances, then he'd be at fault for cheating on Lindsey."

"Actually, you'd both be at fault," Heather said. "You for hitting on him and Tyler for giving into temptation. Anyway, there's one last thing I want to bring up with you: all the times you hit Duncan in his baby makers. I have nothing to base this on, but I think Duncan was so pissed about that, he got together with Gwen the way he did as an act of revenge. He tried to break your heart as revenge for all the times you tried to break his testicles."

"We got over that," Courtney said then had an awkward look on her face. "Mostly. I think."

"Whatever. I'm done with you now," Heather said. "And now we come to Leshawna. You flew completely off the handle when you beat the shit out of me in Germany just for trying to give you a heads up about Alejandro. Even worse, you found out that I was right about Alejandro and still thought what you did was justified."

"What's your point?" Leshawna asked.

"I want an apology," Heather said calmly.

"Not a chance in hell," Leshawna responded.

Heather took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm going to ask again," she began. "And if you refuse again, Eva will yank out one of your teeth with a pair of pliers."

"Yeah right. Like she'd really….." Leshawna stopped talking when she looked at Eva and saw the muscle girl holding a pair of pliers. Eva grinned wickedly and made the pliers give out two menacing clanks. Leshawna's eyes widened in terror.

"So what's it going to be Leshawna?" Heather asked. "Are you going to swallow your pride or is Eva going to have to go amateur dentist on your ass? I'd much rather have the apology, but I could go either way."

"Personally Leshawna," Eva began, "I think you should stand by your convictions and not apologize."

"What the crap, Eva?" Heather asked angrily. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Hey, you promised me a $50 dollar tooth removal fee," Eva said. "I don't get that if Leshawna doesn't force your hand."

_You just can't trust anyone these days," _Heather thought to herself as she rubbed her forehead in frustration.

"Anyway Leshawna," Eva said, "You shouldn't cow tow to Heather's demands. Stand tall and proud. And I'm not just saying that so I can get paid."

"That's a damn lie and we both know it," Leshawna responded. She thought over her next course of action: she didn't want to apologize, but she wasn't exactly dying to take her chances in a physical confrontation with Eva. Leshawna found a solution to her problem when she realized that saying sorry and being sorry could be two very different things.

Leshawna took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about what happened in Germany Heather," she said.

"Yes," Heather said jubilantly.

"Oh come on," Eva said in frustration. "You know she doesn't mean it: she's just saying it to save her giant, flabby ass."

"Don't care, it's still good enough for me," Heather said, then noticed that Eva was still poised to strike. "Stand down Eva. If you rip out her tooth anyway, I'm not going to pay you."

"Fine," Eva said in frustration and then pocketed the pliers.

_What the f#^k, _Leshawna thought after seeing this display of restraint from Heather.

"By the way," Eva began, "in case you're planning to go after Heather because you didn't like what she had to say, she's paid me in advance to be her bodyguard. And if you catch her away from me and beat her up, then I will beat you up right back. Are we clear?"

"They're clear," Heather answered for them. "In closing, I really want to put the past behind us and let bygones be bygones. I know you're not going to be very interested in that because you think I'm evil, but keep in mind that none of you are as infallibly saint-like as you think you are, especially Courtney."

"There's such a thing as subtlety, Heather," Courtney said dryly.

"Subtlety is for people who aren't trying to make points," Heather countered. "And my point is that despite my transgressions, I am still a human being and deserve to be treated as such, god damn it!" Heather shouted at the end, letting some of her anger get out. She took a deep breath to calm herself.

"I'm so glad we could have this little chat, girls," Heather said to Gwen, Courtney and Leshawna. "I'm going to leave you with a question to think about: if you saw Alejandro throw a puppy into a wood chipper, would you still think he was a better person than me [3]?"

Heather stood up and walked along the rafter. When she was out of their line of sight, she got to the video camera she had set up earlier to record the conversation. She pressed the eject button and a DVD disk came out. Heather put the disk into a case she had set aside earlier and put the case into her pocket.

…..

Author's notes: [1] I forget if they actually made a deal like this, but let's just say they did.

[2] I'm taking some liberties with continuity again. How else would you explain how even though Courtney was worse than Heather in TDA, judging by the other characters' reactions in TDWT, Courtney had been given a free pass while Heather was still public enemy #1?

[3] This covers a point I didn't have the time or space to bring up in the actual story: the main reason no one suspected Alejandro of foul play in TDWT was simply because he wasn't Heather.

And as you're probably wondering, the next chapter will explain why Heather didn't want to get violent with Leshawna as well as ramifications for Eva going off script.

Quick question: is it tasteless how I'm using Heather as my mouthpiece regarding the arbitrary hatred she's received? I don't think so: I think a better question would be why would Heather not be pissed about his kind of treatment.


	4. Chapter 4

Everyone had cleared out of the studio. Heather caught up to Eva a while later and approached the muscle girl. She took a deep breath and readied herself to talk to Eva in the calmest manner she could.

"WHAT THE F#^K WAS THAT BACK THERE?" Heather yelled (sadly, that was the most calm she could come up with).

"I know you wanted that apology more than physical payback," Eva began, "but I have no idea why. Especially since a blind guy could see that she didn't mean it."

"It's complicated," Heather said. "If I took my payback on Leshawna, then she'd get payback on me. Then I'd be looking to get payback for her payback of my payback. Do you see a pattern here?"

"Yeah," Eva said. "You're saying that revenge would be a case of short-term gain/long-term loss."

"Pretty much," Heather said. "It's like a great man once said: revenge is a sucker's game [1]." Heather didn't always share that opinion, but her failed attempts to sabotage Gwen during the season 1 finale only for the goth girl to lose anyway taught her a bit about the impracticality of revenge.

"Besides," Heather continued, "I really want to be a better person and giving into the desire for revenge would be counter-productive."

"But threatening Leshawna into apologizing is A-OK?" Eva asked.

"Leshawna needs to know that she f#^ked up," Heather countered. "Partly because she did, but also because history could repeat itself if she still thinks of me as subhuman scum that it's OK to treat like that."

"In any case, I've got the Leshawna situation covered," Heather said as she held up the DVD from earlier. "This contains a recording of our conversation earlier. I'm going to put this on the internet in the hopes that backlash from the fans will make her decide to sincerely apologize to me. If she does: great. If not: well, that's just further proof of how much not better than me she is."

"Let me get this straight," Eva began. "You say you're trying to be a better person, but you're going to put up that recording of you badmouthing the three of them onto the internet."

"I'm not doing this to badmouth them," Heather said. "Though that will be a side effect. I am doing this because Gwen, Courtney and Leshawna are not the only people in the world who will have trouble letting go of their opinion of me as irredeemably evil: I imagine a large portion of the fan base will similarly attached to that opinion. So I'm going to take the same arguments I made earlier to the court of public opinion in the hopes of changing some minds. Is that so wrong?"

"No," Eva answered. "But it is a little underhanded how you're going to do this without giving them a heads up."

"If I warn them, they'll try to stop me," Heather said. "Since their interference is avoidable, I'm choosing to avoid it. Besides, the idea of them finding out about this the hard way seems more fun," Heather said with a mischievous grin.

Eva had a grin of her own and decided that this wasn't such a big deal since it was so relatively harmless. "One last thing," Eva said. "I'd like to point out that my going off script gave you the opportunity to put your money where your mouth was about how much you wanted an apology instead of revenge."

"So it did," Heather said as she put her hand on her chin and thought that over. Since Eva's outburst had worked out pretty well for her and their bonding moment outside the hospital, Heather decided to overlook Eva's act of near disloyalty. "It's cool Eva."

"All right," Eva said. "There's one last thing I want to go over with you: as your new bodyguard, I think I should beat up Leshawna preemptively. Aside from the fact that I still think you deserve some type of physical retribution, it will show everyone how you shouldn't be f#^ked with."

"That's generous of you, but I'm going to have to decline," Heather said. "For one thing, it would send me into that revenge quagmire I mentioned earlier. Also, it's unnecessary: nobody thinks of you as the bluffing type so if you say that you will protect me, people are going to take that seriously."

"I was just throwing it out there," Eva said as she decided to drop the subject. She didn't completely understand Heather's decision to exercise restraint, but she did respect it. Restraint had never been Eva's strong suit and the way Heather exercised it seemed very impressive to the fitness fanatic. This caused Eva's respect for Heather to take another shot upwards.

…

Later that day, Eva had suggested that she and Heather go do something together because if they had to be close to each other for Eva to do her best job as a bodyguard, then they might as well try to have some fun. Eva had one place in mind already: a bowling alley right by the beach that a big window facing the ocean. Eva planned to go around sunset to make the most out of the view.

As they were leaving the hotel, Gwen walked up to them. Heather took a few steps backward so Eva was between her and Gwen. "What do you want Gwen?" Heather asked.

"You don't have to stand that far away," Gwen said. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Yeah, because Eva's going to beat your ass the nanosecond you try something funny," Heather said. "Right, E?"

"F#&k yeah," Eva said.

"Whatever," Gwen said, deciding to just say what she was planning to. "I just came to say that I see your point: after how I got together with Duncan, I don't really have the moral high ground to keep looking down on you. Which sucks, because I really liked doing that and it would help me feel better about myself knowing that I'm still a better person than you."

"Well, you know Gwen," Heather began, "you always have the option of ignoring the validity of my points and continuing to see me as pure evil anyway."

"I'm not committed to sticking my head that far up my ass," Gwen answered.

"While we're on the subject of heads up asses," Heather began, "I'm sorry I had to hit under the belt with that stuff I said: but as I proved, saying sorry didn't exactly cut it with you people."

"I know," Gwen said. "My first thought was that this whole 'I want to move on from the past' business was just a ruse, but what the hell would you have to gain by passing on taking one of Leshawna's teeth in revenge so you could accept a coerced and insincere apology?"

"I still think that was a dumb move," Eva said.

"Don't care," Heather answered.

"And another thing," Gwen continued. "You've someone gotten onto Eva's good side and you're not having her go around beating up people left and right, like you did to Chris."

"In my defense, Chris totally had that coming and deserved much worse."

"I'm not going to argue that. What I'm saying is that instead of having Eva commit acts of violence on your behalf, you're using her as deterrent to prevent further violence: something you wouldn't do if you really were as evil as I've always thought you to be."

"Are you feeling all right Gwen?" Eva asked with an eyebrow raised in bewilderment. "That was dangerously close to a compliment."

"I'm not okay," Gwen answered. "I'm confused and mixed up from these new developments. But that's my problem and I'll deal with it. By the way, Eva: why are you helping Heather?"

"That's complicated," Eva answered. "I had a little run in with her earlier and saw how capable of not evil she is. Also, I know that you, Leshawna and Courtney look down on me as a mindless berzerker despite hardly being perfect yourselves, so giving Heather a hand with shoving you off your high horses was kind of in my best interests."

"I see," Gwen said as she thought over Eva's response. "One last thing, Heather. I noticed how you kind of indirectly stood up for me to Courtney when you briefly lectured her on how infidelity is a two-person crime. Thanks for that."

"I didn't do that for you," Heather pointed out. "I said that for the reason I said everything else I said: there's no way in hell you would forgive me while thinking of me as pure evil and yourselves as pure good. The only chance I had of getting you to change your minds was to make you see that the situation was more grey than that."

"Grey?" Eva asked, not understanding Heather's use of that word.

"As in, not black and white," Gwen said, understanding both Heather's euphemism and her reasons. She held out her hand towards Heather. "Anyway, not enemies?"

Heather walked forward and grabbed Gwen's hand. "Not enemies," the Asian teen said as she shook Gwen's hand in agreement to the end of their animosity.

Heather and Eva turned to walk away, but they didn't get far because Heather stopped when an idea occurred to her. _This has got to be the stupidest thing I've done in quite some time. _

"Hey Gwen," Heather said to get the goth girl's attention. "Eva and I are about to go bowling. Want to join in?"

"Why not," Gwen said and walked along with Heather and Eva.

…

Author's notes: [1] Guess who the great man Heather is referring to is. I'll give you a hint: it's a fictional character from a cartoon show around the mid 90's.


	5. Chapter 5

Bowling with Gwen and had gone surprisingly well. The next day, Heather approached Lindsey and Beth. She apologized for using them as her lackey's in season 1 and offered to take them shopping at her expense to make it up to them. She then presented Lindsey and Beth with a document saying that if they took her offer they would be obligated to forgive her and asked them to sign it.

"Are you serious?" Beth asked.

"As ovarian cancer," Heather answered. "I know I'm killing the sentimentality of my gesture by turning this into a business transaction but for all I know, your hatred of me is so great that you won't see anything wrong with taking advantage of my attempt at generosity."

"We wouldn't do that," Beth said. "Right Lindsey?"

"Can you give us a minute, Heather," Lindsey asked, then grabbed Beth's clothes and walked about a dozen feet away. "If Heather wants our forgiveness so bad, I say we make her work for it and take her for everything she's worth."

Beth was very surprised that her normally sweet friend was acting like this. She figured that Lindsey wasn't suggesting this out of malice: instead it was a combination of her enthusiasm for shopping, her hatred of Heather and her usual dimness.

"The shopping isn't what's important here Lindsey," Beth said, causing Lindsey eyes to widen in shock. "Heather is trying to make things right and we have to meet her half-way: especially since you just proved that she was right to worry about us extorting her."

Heather cleared her throat loudly to bring attention to herself and walked towards them. "I'll have to draw up a new document," she began, "but if you don't think one shopping trip is enough, I'm open to renegotiating. How about two?"

"Five," Lindsey countered.

_Did she even hear anything I said, _Beth asked herself. She was a little disappointed with Lindsey right now. She knew that the blonde bombshell had a large walk-in closet full of stuff and the means to acquire even more stuff. She was striking Beth as greedy at the moment.

"Two and a half," Heather replied.

"What's a half trip?" Lindsey asked.

"That's where I leave you behind and only take Beth," Heather explained and then looked at Beth. "Since you're not trying to extort material goods out of me, I feel like giving more of them to you than to Lindsey."

"Okay," Beth said as she processed this. She was flattered by Heather's counter-offer, even if her line of reasoning seemed a bit odd.

Lindsey also thought offer Heather's counter-offer. She wasn't very good at math, but she did know that two and a half was half of five. She figured this was what Beth meant by meeting Heather halfway.

"Deal," Lindsey agreed to the terms.

….

A couple of hours later, the three of them got back to the hotel (with several shopping bags each) and they ran into Courtney.

_Uh oh, _Heather thought. She had given Eva the day off because it would strain their relationship to bring Eva along on the shopping trip. She was starting to regret that now, but was confident that Lindsey and Beth's presence would prevent Courtney from doing anything she didn't want any witnesses to.

"Hi," Courtney said to the group. "I'm especially glad I ran into you, Lindsey. I'm sorry about hitting on Tyler earlier."

"You what?" Lindsey exclaimed, acting like this was the first she had heard of it.

_Why am I not surprised, _Heather thought.

"I said I'm sorry," Courtney continued. "I figured a great way to get back at Duncan would be to make moves on the guy who blew the whistle on his affair with Gwen. I was so enthusiastic about getting some revenge, that I kind of forgot that Tyler already had a girlfriend. I see now how that was wrong off me."

Lindsey thought over this for a second: she was mad at Courtney, but considering the day's earlier events with Heather, Lindsey decided to forgive Courtney. "Apology accepted," she said.

"Great," Courtney said, and then looked at Heather. "And while we're on the subject of apologies, I accept yours from yesterday. And I'm sorry for thinking of you as stupid and subservient."

_All right, I'm two for three,_ Heather thought.

"Thank you Courtney," Heather said. "There's one other thing I want to bring up. I almost gave into the desire to fall for Alejandro, but I didn't think he'd be right for me because our relationship would likely include making out while feeling each other's backs for a good place to stick a knife. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Then I saw Duncan cheat on you and I used that as a cautionary tale to reinforce how I shouldn't fall for Al. I'm sorry about that too."

"Don't be," Courtney said as Lindsey and Beth left the two because they saw how personal things were getting. "Do you know why I didn't instantly give in to Duncan's advances in season 1?"

"You were trying to show him that if he wanted your attention, he'd have to work for it," Heather answered. "It's a power thing. I've done it myself countless times."

"That's not it," Courtney replied. "My first instinct with Duncan was that we wouldn't be right for each other since we were such very different people. Over time, I ignored that instinct, gave into his bad boys charms and believed we'd be able to overcome any differences that came up. And look how that worked out. So you don't need to apologize for not making the same mistake I did."

"Thank you Courtney," Heather said and went to take her bags to her room. She was very surprised things with Courtney worked out so well. She thought Courtney was like an ostrich but instead of burying her head in the sand when frightened, she buried her head up her ass when pissed off.

…

After dinner that day, Heather had reconvened with Eva and they went to see DJ and his mom.

"Thanks for seeing me on such short notice," Heather said. "I'll cut to the point. I'm aware of your living complications and have solved them by having my dad by you a semi-decent two-bedroom house in the same town I'm from with 65 grand out of my own trust fund. Here's a description."

Heather handed them a piece of paper that had been in here pocket. DJ's mom looked over it and found that it was perfect for her and her son in their time of need. "What's the catch?" she asked.

"The catch, Mrs…. um," It was at this point that Heather realized she had no idea what DJ's last name was.

"Williams," DJ's mom answered.

"The catch, Mrs. Williams," Heather said, "Is that you will have to pay me back for the house within six years. On the plus side, I'm giving you a generous interest rate of zero percent."

_That's better than any loan I'd be able to get from a bank, _Mrs. Williams thought.

"And for the record, I would just give you this house, but I recently lost a million dollars because of a certain feral prairie boy WHO'S FAMILY TREE PROBABLY LOOKS LIKE TWO STICKS JUTTING OUT OF A DEAD RACCOON [1]," Heather shouted, then took a deep breath. "Anyway," Heather said after she had regained her composure, "the house is going to be in my name until I get paid back. That way, I can call the cops to kick your asses out of MY house if you try to renege on our deal."

"That seems fair," DJ said.

"One last thing," Heather said. "The house is insured, but that's in my name as well. So if you burn it down in attempt to piss me off, it won't work as well you think."

DJ stared at her for a while with his mouth open in shock. "Why would we do that?" DJ asked. "Your generosity is the only thing keeping us from living on the streets or having to move in with our relatives for well into the foreseeable future."

"For the same reason Leshawna beat me up in Germany," Heather answered. "You'll feel the urge to spite me, give into it and do something irrational."

After saying this, Mrs. Williams started giving Heather a mean look. Heather wasn't sure what this was about at first, but then it hit her. "Oh shit, Oh shit, Oh shit," Heather said as she pinched her forehead with her thumb and index finger. "I did not mean that in a racist way. I meant it in a 'I have a history of people being arbitrily self-righteous about hating my guts' kind of way."

"Oh," Mrs. Williams said, understanding where Heather was coming from.

"And while we're on the subject," Heather said, "I have had many people call me evil over the internet and in person. The only reason Eva is here is because I recently stirred up a hornet's nest and she's going to protect me from any violent rebuttals. I only bring this up because if I strike you as paranoid, it's only because there ARE people out to get me."

"Well, then you're not being paranoid: just cautious."

"Thank you. And for the record, I don't think all black people are like Leshawna. I know that would be wrong of me to think that just because Leshawna is the one black person I've dealt with the most."

Heather then rubbed her chin with her hand as she thought about what she just said. "Wait a second," she said. "That doesn't help me."

"It sure doesn't," DJ said as he face palmed himself.

"It's all right," Mrs. Williams said. "I'll let that that one slide since I'm also aware of how few black people there are in Canada [2]."

"Why are you helping us like this, Heather?" DJ asked.

"A few reasons," Heather said. "I'm in the middle of turning over a new leaf and I figure a good place to start would be to give financial aid to the one person I know who needs and deserves it the most. Besides that, a big problem with my new endeavor is that I don't really have a moral compass of my own. That's where you come in, DJ: I'm hoping you'll be mine."

"Is that really necessary?" Eva asked. "You've made an impressive amount of progress for supposedly not having a moral compass."

"For now," Heather countered. "But I imagine I'll lose steam as soon as things get things get difficult. Like if Leshawna decides to reward me for exercising restraint by going on ape shit on me again."

"If she does that," Eva began, "then I will beat her up so badly that her kids will inherent the bruises." She then placed her hand on Heather's right shoulder. "And not just because you've paid me to: but because you deserve better than to have your attempt at self-improvement derailed by Leshawna making a self-righteous c#(t out of herself."

"That's very sweet of you, E," Heather said as a single tear came out of her eye and she wiped it away with her left hand. "But that won't undo the damage to my resolve."

"That's where you come in DJ," she said as she faced him. "I'm going to need you to keep me on the moral path and nudge me back onto it if I stray. That includes beating me up and dragging me to a psychologist if worse comes to worse."

"I don't know about that last part," DJ said as he rubbed the back of his head, "but I will help you in the other ways. If mama accepts your offer, that is."

"I almost forgot," Heather said as she got another piece of paper from her pocket. "My dad found out a that there's a job opening at the cafeteria in the office building he works at. You still have to apply and meet the requirements, but he'll put in a good word for you. Here's a description of the job."

Mrs. Williams looked over the job description and could tell that it was much better than working the graveyard shift at Waffle House, which she was planning to do until she could find something better.

Mrs. Williams had some conflicted feelings about Heather's generosity. On one hand, a part of her thought Heather was only doing this to exercise power over them in their darkest hour. Even if that wasn't the case, Mrs. Williams wasn't exactly interested in showing Heather that she could essentially buy herself absolution for her past transgressions.

On the other hand, she also had to think about her son. She knew she had to be realistic and ignore her first instinct to play 'I'm too good to take your money' with Heather. Besides that, the burly girl with the unibrow kind of brought up an interesting point earlier: if Heather really was trying to turn over a new leaf, she wouldn't get anywhere if no one took a chance with her. Plus, it was extremely likely that DJ would be a good influence on her.

"I accept your gifts," Mrs. Williams said, the outstretched her hand. Heather grabbed her hand and they both shook on the arrangement.

…..

Author's notes:

[2] She's calling Ezekiel heavily inbred in case you didn't get that.

[3] I did some internet research and found out that Canada does have much less black people than America.

Only one chapter left and it's going to be an epilogue. I have a sequel in mind, but I have no idea when I'll get around to it.


	6. Chapter 6

Some time after Heather's conversation with DJ and his mom, Courtney approached Gwen. "Hello Gwen," she said in a very calm tone.

"Hello Courtney," Gwen said, apprehension evident in her voice.

"I just want you to know," Courtney began, "that I no longer blame you entirely for what happened with Duncan."

After thinking over everything Heather had said about letting bygones be bygones and how she was human, Courtney had decided to apply the same things to Gwen. She was still mad at the goth girl though, just less so.

"Furthermore," Courtney continued, "I've decided that I don't care about you and Duncan anymore. As far as I'm concerned, the two of you deserve each other."

"Thanks," Gwen said. She knew that what Courtney really meant was that they deserved each other because they broke Courtney's trust and the brunette C.I.T hoped one of them would hurt the other like they'd hurt her. Gwen also knew that she had to put a lot of effort into being civil for there to be any hope of diffusing Courtney's anger.

"One last thing," Courtney said. "When I was with Duncan, it never occurred to me that he would cheat on me, so it hurt that much worse when he did. So if you think that he isn't going to cheat on you because he's simply incapable of doing so, then you're a f#*king idiot."

Surprisingly, this had little effect on Gwen. Despite how insulting she was being, Gwen knew that Courtney was factually correct. Besides that, her encounter with Heather had shown her that she couldn't keep thinking of herself as always right or get out of problems by playing the victim card: she had to own up to what she did.

"For what it's worth," Gwen began, "I'm sorry about what happened with Duncan."

"Whatever," Courtney said, then turned around and started walking away.

_The sad thing is, _Gwen started thinking, _that this is the closest Courtney and I will get to real closure._

….

It had about a week since the final challenge of TDWT. The most interaction Heather had had with Leshawna was the occasional awkward glance. Heather didn't mind that Leshawna hadn't come around like Gwen and Courtney: in 24 hours, she was going to be hundreds of miles away from Leshawna when she initiated phase 2.

The former contestants had been told that they would be leaving Hawaii to head back to Canada the following day. Heather was in her room packing when she heard a knock at the door.

"It's me," Eva said from the other side of the door. Heather opened the door and walked inside, looking troubled.

"What's bothering you, Eva?" Heather asked.

"You know how we likely won't see each other again after tomorrow?" Eva asked and Heather nodded yes. They had shared a little personal information about themselves and found out that they lived on different sides of Canada.

"I do," Heather said.

"I just want you to that this," Eva paused as she motioned her hands between her and Heather, "whatever we've had going on has meant a lot to me. You are the closest I've had to a friend in a long time. So thanks for that. Goodbye."

Eva turned to leave but didn't get far. "Wait, E," Heather said, causing Eva to stop. "Our…. time together has meant a lot to me to. You were the first person to give me the benefit of the doubt about me wanting to change. And we probably will not see each other in person again, but there are alternatives: cell phone calls, e-mail, video chatting. My point is, I would like to continue being your friend."

"I'd like that too," Eva said as she got choked up with what she assumed was emotion. She had felt for a while that her relationship with Heather had gone beyond a simple series of business transactions even though that's how it had started. Until now, she had no idea that Heather felt same way, so it was great to see that she did.

Eva felt the urge to give Heather a hug. After resisting the urge for a few seconds, Eva gave in hugged the Asian girl while being very careful to mind her own strength.

…

Off in another hotel room, someone else was packing. He had heard about Heather recent acts of niceness and was impressed. He had no idea that giving Heather that ticket to see 'Megamind' would have this much effect. He knew that Heather was capable of being not so evil and was grateful to have his faith rewarded.

He heard a knock on his door and went to open it. He saw Leshawna standing there. "Are you done yet, Harold?" she asked.

"I'm done," he said and left with Leshawna for one last walk along the beach.

…

After a long plane flight and a brief detour to show DJ and his mom their new home, Heather walked into her room. She laid her suitcase down and unpacked the only item she was interested in right now: the DVD with the recording of her calling out Gwen, Leshawna and Courtney.

She sat down in front of her computer and turned it on. She decided she was going to check all the messages she had received since she was away before adding the recording to her blog. She looked at her messages and was surprised at what she found.

There had been a drastic change in the tone of the messages she had been sent. Before, she had a relatively small number of fans and many more haters. But now her messages could be divided into several categories: condolences for the Germany incident and losing the prize money, assurances that she was far less evil than Alejandro, statements of defection from former followers of Gwen's blog, apologies for earlier accusations of demonic lineage and miscelanious (that last one was only about 20% of the total). Heather started counting up all the different screen names and found that the number of people sending her kind words numbered in the hundreds.

A few tears started coming out Heather's eyes as she processed this information. Ever since she had decided to abandon her bitchy ways, she had always thought that getting the fan base to put aside their animosity of her would be a very uphill battle. But now she saw that the events of TDWT had already won over many people. It was all incredibly heartwarming to her.

As these thoughts went through her head, she looked at the DVD. She had only wanted to put it on her blog in the hopes of changing some minds about her but that had already been accomplished. About half the messages included echoes of her own opinions about the fallacies of Gwen, Leshawna and Courtney's perceived purity.

She thought about putting the recording up anyway, but decided against it. In addition to the unnecessity of it, it would be a step backward on her quest of morality. Heather knew that if she failed in her attempt at self-improvement, she would use the recording for evil. So Heather placed the disk so that was half was the table and half was over air. She raised her hand and brought it down on the half off the table and broke the disk.

_There's a good chance that I'm going to regret that, _Heather thought. _Then again, I had a similar opinion about inviting Gwen to go bowling and that worked out well. Maybe this will too._

Heather took the fragments of the broken DVD and threw them away. But now she had problem: she wanted to do something special for her first post season 3 and now had no ideas. She knew she wanted to express gratitude towards all the people who had undergone a change of heart about her, but she also wanted to do something grander than just saying 'thank you'. She had no idea what to do but was confident that she'd think of something. The hard part was over at least.

…...

Author's notes: I apologize if the Gwen and Courtney scene seemed out of place, but I wanted to address their issues in the context of this story, so I did. Besides, I think it's thematically consistent with the rest of the story.

I also apologize for how anticlimactic the ending is. I thought about Heather signing a song to express her gratitude but nothing specific came to mind, so I'm leaving it as is.


End file.
